Gov. Larry Rhoden, left, debated Democratic challenger Dan Ahlers Sept. 5 at the South Dakota State Fair. (Jonathan Ellis/The Dakota Scout)
HURON – The first of two debates between the major party candidates for governor focused on agriculture issues, but daylight also appeared between Gov. Larry Rhoden and his Democratic opponent Dan Ahlers on education and health care.
Rhoden and Ahlers squared off Saturday during the South Dakota State Fair in a forum hosted by the South Dakota Farmers Union and moderated by Mitch Richter, a former lawmaker who represents the SDFU.
Ahlers, a former lawmaker from Dell Rapids, criticized the state’s strategy on economic development for agriculture, arguing that too much of the economic development funds doled out by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development go to luring out-of-state businesses. He told the story of a South Dakota industrial hemp grower who needed funding to build a hemp processing facility. He ended up going to Iowa when he didn’t get support here.
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